Over 650-million tweets per day and you still haven’t found value in Twitter? Statistically, that seems improbable unless you’re not trying. This isn’t one of those articles that boasts or even ridicules the use of Twitter. There are as many uses for Twitter as there are reasons to not use it.
With that said, my aim is to help you get the most value out of Twitter, should you decide to include it in your personal learning strategy or that of your organization.
What follows is an index of various apps that can improve your experience with Twitter from a learning professional’s perspective. The index is organized in five categories.
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Workflow / Organization: Apps that help you manage the vast amount of content.
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Aesthetic: Apps that help you improve the aesthetic value of your Twitter experience.
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Broadcast / Media: Apps that enable media-rich sharing.
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Social: Apps that enhance your ability to connect with other learners.
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Analytic: Apps that help you define the success of your learning and facilitation goals.
Workflow apps
These apps help you manage the amount of information fired at you every time you look at a tweetstream. Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, and Seesmic are all Twitter clients that help you manage tweets by separating them into what you feel is appropriate or relevant. Tweetvisor is a Web-based app that works in a similar way, with a few unique features. Figure 1 shows the view from the Compare Users feature. This is useful for validating a follower.
Figure 1. Tweetvisor’s
Compare User feature.
Other workflow tools include Twitblock, Formulists, and Twalala. All of these help you organize and filter the massive amount of information Twitter delivers.
Aesthetic apps
These apps help to create a more creative experience visually. When using Twitter as a presentation platform, this category can be very useful. Apps in the category include Freetwitterdesign , Twitrounds, Twitbacks, and Twitpaper. All provide backgrounds for your Web-based Twitter page. The highlighted app for this category is Twilk. Twilk allows you to put your Twitter followers on your background. Think of it as homage to your followers or those you follow. Figure 2 is a Twilk of Tweeple (that is, Twitter people) I follow who follow me back.
Figure 2. A Twilk of people I follow on Twitter who follow me back – my circle, if you will.
Broadcast / Media
This category, although smaller than the others, has some powerful tools. These tools can include Twitpic, Twitvid, Twitxr (for mobile media uploading), and Mobypicture (for media sharing across multiple platforms). Each of these allows you to connect rich media to your tweet.
The second part of this category is more robust. Hashtagram uses photos from a hashtag and posts them as a slide show. Wiffiti broadcasts real time messages to a screen. The highlighted app is Twebevent. This app allows you to combine your live Justin.TV stream with Tweetchat. It’s almost like having a virtual classroom. Figure 3 is the Twebevent for eLearnchat.
Figure 3. This Twebevent for eLearnChat
combines a live video stream with the live tweetstream for the event.
Social
Another small category, these apps help to make your interaction with other Tweeple more robust. There are three apps I’ll highlight here. Twtvite allows you to bring your digital relationship into the real world by coordinating tweetups (physical gatherings of Twitter users). Formulist allows you to form and manage lists. Nurph enables you to gather Twitter users in a private or not so private virtual room. It also eliminates the 140 character limit. This may or may not be a good thing. The highlighted app is Grouptweet , also known as “narrowcasting.” It allows groups to communicate privately via Twitter. (See Figure 4.)
Figure 4. GroupTweet
provides narrowcasting capability.
Analytics
This is the “last but not least” category. Measurement can be a very useful tool even with social media and social learning. This group contains apps that help you measure the success of your social goals. Polleverywhere, although not a Twitter app, allows polling using Twitter. Twittpoll on the other hand polls exclusively through Twitter. Other metric tools are Tweetbeep, Tweetreports, Visibli , and the featured Wibiya toolbar. Wibiya is more than a toolbar. It has measurement features and links to Twitter, Facebook, and other sites to make your Website social. You can see Wibiya at the bottom of Figure 5. You can visit the Liquid Learn Website to see it in action.
Figure 5. The Wibiya toolbar is at the bottom of this screen, and provides measurement features plus links that make your Web site social.
Not the final answer
Twitter is not the answer to every learning professional’s prayer. There are limits as well as benefits that use of these applications will have on learning outcomes. This article is meant as a resource to give you a start on your treasure hunt. There are so many more tools waiting for you to discover them. This column is dedicated to helping you navigate the digital oceans and find useful islands to gather treasures you can exchange for learning outcomes.
